Chit Chat Thread for the week of March 23rd 2009

Yea, I'm finished with my current phase of yard work. 3 more to go over the next year and a half...Ugh.

This phase is done....
Phase 1 - Remove 15 HUGE Monkey Grass from the front of the house. Remove the dirt/clay down to 6 inches. Replace with topsoil. Plant flowers and other bulbs for winter and next spring flowers. Cover all planter beds with mulch.

This will be this fall's project....
Phase 2 - Do the same to the rest of the front planter beds.

Next Spring/summer....
Phase 3 - Re-grade the back yard and fill in low spots with soil. About 2/3 of the back yard is sloped off at a nice grade, but the back 1/3 drops off and is sinking (it's the drainage easement for part of the neighborhood). It's been getting worse, but this year it's impossible to get the mower in there to mow. Even if I could get the riding mower in there, I could not get it back out.

2010 Fall project...
Phase 4 - Pull back all grass within a 1.5-2 foot distance from the house and replace with flowers and rock to reduce the maintenance and beautify the house.

First sign of spring has happened. MM has shed her winter clothes;) Your avatar is so cute.

Miss POI

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/17034

... or I could just pop in and say 'hi' on a Tuesday ...

... have a good week !!!

--

it's the dog's fault

Sprayed all the weeds with Round-up, waiting for them to die, then they're into the green waste. By then, should be warm enough to plant things like lettuce and some of the cooler thriving veggies. I can't wait!!

Well, first I am planting umbrellas to see if they will grow shade. Some giant elephant ears, giant ricepaper plants, banana trees, Italian cypress, Korean boxwood dwarfs, moving 13 roses, a small wisteria, 2 cumquats, 2 banana friscatti (you have to be southern to know that smells like bananas), 2 hydrangeas.

Just for fun, I probably will move the vitex agnus castus (frequently called the "false hemp bush") to mess with the head of our nosy crazy neighbor who since we put in the privacy fence between our houses, has taken to climbing on his roof to blow leaves and see what we are up to. I could put this plant barely where he can get a look at it, and see what he does. It looks really really like pot, leaves and all.

Think I should try it?

#57 YAY!

I am 58th and nobody can take that awy from me.

a new tool will be rolled out tomorrow morning;) Just thought I would tease you a bit.

Wouldn't it be cool to open a project page and see what states are included in the file so you can tell if it is usable for you or not?

Hehehehehehehehe

Miss POI

I've wearing shorts again... making the neighbours shiver

This is driving me crazy.

Enjoying the great AZ weather!

Know what you mean Gary, when i first got the HD TV the diffence between the analog and SD was great, I had the Comcast HD package and then a month or so ago decided to try out the Direct TV HD. really glad i did. the difference between the two are really noticeable, a much better picture via the Sat than the cable. may check into it. I sure like it tho.

Great weather here on the shores of Lake Erie, The ice is gone and water temp is on it's way upward. Soon I will be on the beach again.

We live in a Verizon FiOS market, along with Brighthouse Networks (cable). FiOS is fiber optic cable to the home and has a lot more bandwidth than cable so we went with Verizon and bundled in Internet and home phone. The picture quality is stunning!

Disclaimer: No, I don't work for Verizon.

I have switched to Fios HD from Comcast HD. We have a 42" 1080P HDTV. It was hooked up to Comcast for 2 months and then Fios was available on our street. I agree with Gary A the picture is great. Comcast is very good, but I think that you can see greater detail on the Fios better.

I've never known anyone with FiOS, but I've read that's it has the potential to be faster (internet) than anything else on the market...which would only translate into higher bandwidth for HD feeds.

Anyone compare DirecTV with Dish? I've got Dish simply because it's the only system with a dual DVR. Cox out here in AZ bites - I had it for about 3 months and then switched to Dish.

Oh, something else to upgrade to. I just got DVR from Direct TV. Wasn't sure if I would use it much, but now use it all the time. Much easier to use than VCR. HD is next. I suppose I'll like that too, even though my SD picture is great.

If you can get it, it's great. My internet package is 10/2Mbps. There is also a 20/5Mbps package available, but since I only do basic web surfing and email, its not worth the extra cost to me. Users who do a lot of online gaming or bit torrent downloads would see a benefit.

I thought I had a great SD picture on my TV also, but when I switched from cable to FiOS, it got even better on the same SDTV. Now that I have HDTV on FiOS - WOW, what a difference.

I've never seriously considered either DirecTV or Dish down here in Florida. When thick storm clouds roll in, I've seen too many other subscribers lose the signal.

Same service as FiOS for AT&T users,get a AT&T U-verse Bundle

https://uverse1.att.com/un/launchAMSS.do?GUID=0FDB944C-9350-...

I sure don't work for AT&T, but use this service.

Beautiful weather 75 to 80... Definately short weather... Noticed lots of speed cameras on the way here. Heading home tomorrow for a 90th birthday party for my wife's aunt...

My daughter and her husband moved to the new city of Sahuraita (near Tucson) almost two years ago. She calls me every day to remind me how nice it it there and how cold it is where I am in hopes that we'll move. After this looooooooong winter in Massachusetts and an ice storm that left us in the dark for 12 days, AZ sounds pretty good!

for the winter for sure, not sure I would want any part of it for the summer and fall months! Too dang Hot!

A "Zonie" is an Arizona resident that moves to SoCal to escape the summer heat. Just as "snowbirds" winter in AZ, Zonies summer in California.

I have been caught up with facebook. They have this stupid fishing game that I am hooked on called fishing wrangler. You should try it out if you have time.

Go Cubbies

I received the following from one of our "older" members "Eagle One" - thought I would share.

" Yep, I'm unemployed. Took the past month off to get things done at home. Job opportunities don't look too promising around here. I might have to move to another part of the country to find suitable employment.

Tell the folks at POI-Factory I said hi.

And, thanks for asking how I'm doing!

EagleOne "

That's unfortunate. Thanks for the update. I knew his truck had been "parked" for some time.

I wish Eagle One the best.

a leak. Hope everyone is enjoying spring no matter how wet you are . It's gotta get better

I know Eagleone hadnt been on a while and the lastt thing i can remember he said he was called back to the office and he was afraid of getting laid off. To bad, I hate to see that and anyother that is in that situation, and looks like it isnt getting any better. I think i chose to retire about the right time, dont have those things to worry about or going somewhere and flippin burgers or being a door greeter.

Didn't update my dad's gps since Christmas, He got a ticket from the speed cam in Morristown Tn... opps

A big Midwest hello to you all!

Spring is teasing us here in the northeast

Hey FTdad
Welcome and have fun, read what you can and ask what you don't see after reading.

Just posting to get credit...

I just found a POI file that I never expected to find. Made my day.

and I thought I was the only one

Even though at t times my GPS said i was driving in the middle of a corn field (newer roads), I woudl have been lost this week if I did not have it along...

I'm never lost. Y'all might not know where I am, but I always know exactly where I am. I'm right here, where are you?

.

Rain last night and rain called for tonight and tomorrow here in DELAWHERE!

Go North Carolina!!!!!

Thought we had started spring here in Michigan.... then the news said we may get SNOW!!! tonight, you would think "Global Warming" = warm weather. That's my complant of the day.

Forecast calls for snow tonight in northern IL
(3-5 inches)I thought we were done with winter
One last blast from mother nature?

Maybe the late snow will help the little morel mushrooms pop when I am up there in mid-May for the annual hunt.

I've been in FL since 9/2004. In 6/2004 I was in upper MI and had ice in the bird bath in June. Don't miss it one bit.

Right now it's 84 and we have the air conditioning on so wife's mom doesn't get too hot. Me, I love it.

I haven't been on much lately. I got hired back where I last worked in May 2007 on an on-call basis, and have been busy doing projects for them. Also still working from home and have been busy there and having to go out and meet clients.

I miss the forums and am going to try to participate more again.

I haven't had too much computer time.

My daughter has, however, learned how to patch a hole in drywall, and we've had good time spackling, painting and trimming her room. (colors not necessarily what I would have picked though...)

The kids are looking forward to turning the lights out for an hour tonight to vote for the earth. We're going to turn everything off, (except for the icebox.) www.earthhour.org

Life sucks!!!

Icebox I haven't heard that term in years!?!